[7ducks]

We got our court date! We are to be in Poland by April 28'th!!! Our court date will by May 20. The judge wanted us to have a three week bonding period (for whatever reason). I hope that he'll shorten our appeal period. But right now, I'm so excited. We have tons to do (plane tickets for one!).

Just wanted to share!!!

[mama08]

Congrats !! That is so exciting!!!! Good luck & best wishes for everything

[momraine]

Congratulations, have a wonderful trip!

[Jenmullett]

Yay! I'm so glad that your travels are coming up so soon. I bet the next 2 weeks will be a whirlwind!!

Does this mean you may still be able to go to that workshop in June? I think you mentioned in a previous post that the workshop sounded like a good one relative to your child's needs? Either way, I am SO glad you are going to connect with your child soon!!

[lastpaige]

Oh, SO EXCITED FOR YOU!

Get busy, start packing/cleaning, etc. Don't forget to get everyone super healthy for the trip!

YEAH!!!!

[7ducks]

It really all depends on the appeal period after court. It looks promising! The workshop is June 24'th. I hope it works out. Even if it cuts it close, I think it would be so wonderful to be able to attend it.

Originally Posted by Jenmullett

Yay! I'm so glad that your travels are coming up so soon. I bet the next 2 weeks will be a whirlwind!!

Does this mean you may still be able to go to that workshop in June? I think you mentioned in a previous post that the workshop sounded like a good one relative to your child's needs? Either way, I am SO glad you are going to connect with your child soon!!

[Kama]

This is great news!!! Congratulations. This is usually a beautiful time of the year, as for weather. Good luck making preparations!!!

[LisArno]

That's great news!

Packing will be great fun Some airlines have gone down to allowing only one, fifty pound bag per person, but it appears most American carriers allow an extra bag for only $25. We flew Lufthansa a year and a half ago from Germany to Poland and they also had the one bag restriction (their English web translation made it sound like two bags at 50 pounds each). I ended up paying over $225 to get our candy for the orphanage and workers there!!! Our driver/translation did keep one of our duffel bags loaded with "supplies" (games, clothes, diapers) for our return trip so we didn't have to pay to get the stuff their twice.

[7ducks]

What if we only have two bags... but they are both heavy? What happens then??

[lastpaige]

Call your airline and ask them directly. Then call again and ask again since you may get different answers from different people.

We had several pieces of luggage with 4 of us going, staying the entire time, and then 6 of us returning. I would have rather had double the number of bags but at half the weight each. Our hotel in Warsaw was great, except hauling oversized bags 3 flights up was not my idea of a great time. My husband had to make one trip each. It would have been nicer if I could have helped carry some of that weight.

Also to consider - the heavier and more cumbersome your load looks, the bigger bait you are for thieves in the train stations. Especially when you have more than one or two children with you.

[manatus]

Congratulations and have a great trip. We traveled in May and the weather was really nice.

[7ducks]

Originally Posted by lastpaige

Call your airline and ask them directly. Then call again and ask again since you may get different answers from different people.

We had several pieces of luggage with 4 of us going, staying the entire time, and then 6 of us returning. I would have rather had double the number of bags but at half the weight each. Our hotel in Warsaw was great, except hauling oversized bags 3 flights up was not my idea of a great time. My husband had to make one trip each. It would have been nicer if I could have helped carry some of that weight.

Also to consider - the heavier and more cumbersome your load looks, the bigger bait you are for thieves in the train stations. Especially when you have more than one or two children with you.

Thanks for this advice. It's not something we've thought of. Perhaps if we each have one of those little suitcases with wheels? You know...like carry-on size (although we won't carry them on cause we'll have our other carry-on backpacks).

[mschaefer]

Jaqueline's makes some great points. We ended up splitting our items into smaller but more bags -- 2 small each. Our airlines charged if 1 bag was over the weight limit, even if you did not have a 2nd bag. Also we found that stacking the bags in the cab were easier if small and compact, than large. Finally, there were many more times we had to carry bags up and down flights of stairs than you would typically find in the US.

[7ducks]

Okay, I got my little bags today. I found four on sale at Walmart for $11! I'm so glad you mentioned this...I can see how it will be tons easier and probably will save us money too!

Thank you!!!

[lastpaige]

I'm glad it may help! Yes, even if you buy an $11 WalMart bag for each family member, and they come back to the states trashed, it will still have been money well spent.